Parthia Missile Ship

Pursuit Trihemiolia - Eastern Slingers

Fast, relatively powerful pursuit ships, well able to hunt down pirates and other seagoing scum.

Even giants can be humbled by nimble slingers.

It is thought that the Rhodians, a significant naval power in the eastern Mediterranean, developed the 'trihemiolia' or 'two-and-a-half' as a vessel for pirate hunting. Given that Rhodes is an island entirely reliant on the sea and shipping this is a believable theory. Pirates used the hemiola, a handy little vessel developed from the dieres or bireme, a ship with two rows of oars; it makes sense that pirate hunters would think of taking a trieres, or trireme, with three rows of oars and modifying it in a similar fashion. A trihemiolia still had three rows of oars on each side, but the top row was reduced to only half the number of oars, positioned midships. The result was a faster, handier vessel that provided a height advantage over a hemiola for any archers on board. There was also a strategic benefit to the Rhodians, who could only draw on the manpower of one island: they could have six trieres warships with full complements of rowers, or seven trihemiolias for the same number of men. The useful design was soon adopted by other maritime powers around the Mediterranean.

(Eastern Slingers)
Slingers were common in ancient armies. Slings are ancient weapons, dating back to Palaeolithic times. In comparison to bows, they were easy to make and had a greater effective range. Constructed from braided flax, hemp or rushes, a sling has a cradle where the shot is placed. One end has a finger-loop, while the other has a knot or strip giving a firm handhold. The slinger puts his middle finger through the loop and holds the knotted end with his thumb and forefinger. After whirling the shot in the sling it is released with a flick of the wrist. Quick to fire and reload, the sling was widely hated by those on the receiving end. Shot varied from stones collected in rivers to shaped lumps of clay and lead; lead shot could fly over 400 metres. Such missiles were sometimes inscribed with comments such as “Catch!” or “Take that!” Shot was difficult to see in flight, and although it lacked the penetrating power of an arrow it could easily break bone or stave-in armour at short ranges. Famously, the Roman Consul Paulus was killed by a slinger early in the disastrous Battle of Cannae.

Abilities

Pursuit Trihemiolia

• Row Hard 10
  Increases speed for 10 strokes.
  Ship speed

Attributes

• Resistant to Fatigue
  Fatigue has less of an effect on this unit.
• Hide (scrub & forest)
  This unit can hide in scrub and forest until enemy units get too close.
• Resistant to Heat
  This unit tires less quickly in the desert.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Pursuit Trihemiolia

• Poor hull strength
• Medium crew
• Uncatchable
• Weak ramming
• Poor boarding
• Average missile combat

Eastern Slingers

• Very long range
• Average rate of fire
• Low damage but average armour penetration
• Very weak in melee
• Very poor morale

Parthia Units
General (2)
1.Noble Horse Archers
2.Royal Cataphracts
Melee Infantry (3)
3.Hillmen
4.Mob
5.Parthian Swordsmen
Missile Infantry (5)
6.Elite Persian Archers
7.Eastern Javelinmen
8.Parthian Foot Archers
9.Persian Light Archers
10.Eastern Slingers
Spear Infantry (2)
11.Persian Hoplites
12.Eastern Spearmen
Melee Cavalry (3)
13.Camel Spearmen
14.Median Cavalry
15.Noble Blood Cavalry
Missile Cavalry (5)
16.Camel Archers
17.Armoured Horse Archers
18.Horse Skirmishers
19.Noble Horse Archers
20.Parthian Horse Archers
Shock Cavalry (3)
21.Camel Cataphracts
22.Eastern Cataphracts
23.Royal Cataphracts
Elephant (1)
24.Indian War Elephants
Fixed Artillery (3)
25.Eastern Giant Ballista
26.Eastern Bastion Scorpion
27.Eastern Scorpion (Fixed)
Field Artillery (7)
28.Eastern Bastion Ballista
29.Eastern Ballista
30.Eastern Scorpion
31.Eastern Large Onager
32.Eastern Bastion Onager
33.Eastern Onager
34.Scorpion Pot Ballista
Admiral (2)
35.Light Artillery Penteres - Eastern Ballista (Ship)
36.Tower Hexeres - Hillmen
Melee Ship (5)
37.Tower Hexeres - Hillmen
38.Assault Hexeres - Hillmen
39.Assault Tetreres - Hillmen
40.Fire Pot Dieres - Eastern Spearmen
41.Assault Dieres - Eastern Spearmen
Missile Ship (7)
42.Raiding Hemiolia - Eastern Javelinmen
43.Scorpion Trieres - Parthian Foot Archers
44.Missile Trieres - Parthian Foot Archers
45.Scorpion Penteres - Persian Light Archers
46.Tower Penteres - Persian Light Archers
47.Missile Penteres - Persian Light Archers
48.Pursuit Trihemiolia - Eastern Slingers
Artillery Ship (2)
49.Light Artillery Penteres - Eastern Ballista (Ship)
50.Artillery Penteres - Eastern Onager (Ship)